Fire Rush: 'I felt charged and changed' Bernardine Evaristo

Description

An explosive debut novel about dub reggae, love, loss and freedom set in late '70s and early '80s London, Bristol and Jamaica by a phenomenal new voice in fiction A debut about dub reggae, love, loss and freedom, Fire Rush is an electrifying state-of-the-nation novel and an unforgettable portrait of Black womanhood. Yamaye lives for the weekend, when she can go raving with her friends at The Crypt, an underground club in the industrial town on the outskirts of London where she was born and raised. A young woman unsure of her future, the sound is her guide - a chance to discover who she really is in the rhythms of those smoke-filled nights. In the dance-hall darkness, dub is the music of her soul, her friendships, her ancestry. But everything changes when she meets Moose, the man she falls deeply in love with, and who offers her the chance of freedom and escape. When their relationship is brutally cut short, Yamaye goes on a dramatic journey of transformation that takes her first to Bristol - where she is caught up in a criminal gang and the police riots sweeping the country - and then to Jamaica, where past and present collide with explosive consequences. 'This book has it all ... Set in London in the late 70s amongst clubs and dub music, you're immersed into something really special' 'Yamaye is a fantastic central protagonist and narrator ... This novel takes you on an emotional and unforgettable journey' 'I will be recommending it to everyone' 'A phenomenal debut novel' 'A stunning debut novel ... as relevant to today's racial climate as the 1970s ... it felt musical, with dub music almost a secondary character in the novel'

Jacqueline Crooks grew up in 70s and 80s Southall, part of London's migrant community carving out a space through music, culture and politics. Immersed in the gang underworld as a young woman, she later discovered the power of writing and music to help her look outwards and engage differently with the world - a power that has driven her ever since, from her work with charities to her short stories, which have been nominated for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, the Wasafiri New Writing Prize and the BBC National Short Story Award.

I was blown away by Fire Rush - an exceptional and stunningly original novel by a major new writer... her mesmerising, imaginative and incantatory writing leaves us swaying to the bass of the visceral rhythms she so powerfully describes. By the end of the novel, I felt charged and changed and already longed to re-read it. -- Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER This beautiful, sprawling narrative is wrought with an incredible precision and a musicality which carries every sentence. Crooks' novel haunts but make space for hope as well. -- Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of OPEN WATER A brilliant, exuberant novel. Full of beauty, musicality and feminist power. -- Irenosen Okojie, author of NUDIBRANCH Fire Rush... [is] a window into the dub scene at the time, with rhythmic, lyrical writing and a story about raving, love and the impact of police violence. * Vogue *